At The Feet Of Jesus
Spent the day yesterday at the Riverside Church in Morningside Heights in New York City taking photos. Many churches have outlawed tripods lately, so I am always careful to wait to pull out the tripod until I think I may not be seen for a bit. In this case, I was able to capture about half of the main sanctuary before I noticed the security guards looking at me and then one coming towards me. I was happy with what I had been able to capture, but was bummed I would probably have to capture the rest handheld and make sacrifices in quality.
Thankfully, to my surprise, the security guard only wanted to know if I was filming/recording. I told him I was only taking pictures and he said that was fine as long as I did not take video and never said anything about the tripod not being allowed so I was thrilled. After capturing the rest of the sanctuary, I went to talk to the two security guards about the church, its history and some of the design features. They were very knowledgable and friendly and shared about the beautiful view from the clock tower that used to be accessible by the public, but now was not due to insurance costs.
After chatting a bit one of the guards offered to show me the 2nd balcony even though it was technically closed and he would have to accompany me to allow me in. Again, I was thrilled and thankfully and gladly accepted such a kind and generous offer. We ended up chatting for a while and it turns out he is a photography enthusiast for portraits and horse photography and we own the same camera. We chatted a bit about Cameras, lenses, different types of photographers and more and then I set up to take some photos including this one.
It was so refreshing to be in a beautiful historic and religious building where they were OK with and even excited to see photographers taking pictures of their building. So often these days photographers with tripods are seen as a nuisance security and insurance risk and more and in many buildings tripods are illegal.
If you have a change to visit New York City and are looking for a beautiful church a little off the beaten tourist path, I highly recommend the awe inspiring Riverside Church in Morningside Heights and, while up there, make sure to pay a visit to General Grant's Tomb located literally across the street.
ArchitectureBuildingCC BYNCND 3.0CityGriffin StewartJ. Griffin StewartJGS PhotographyManhattanMorningside HeightsNew YorkNew York CityNorth AmericaReligionRiverside ChurchSanctuaryUSAWorship
